Molonglo

Kaminos 44 is a former ouzo factory repurposed for artistic work. The post-industrial relic is located in the port city of Piraeus, at the south-western tip of greater Athens. Brutal and robust in character, the building houses a series of open factory floor plates, mezzanines, voids and courtyards. The ground floor has double height ceilings. All spaces have concrete floors and exposed concrete soffit ceilings.

Once a rocky, prehistoric island, the port city of Piraeus is a large municipality with a population upwards of 170,000 at the centre. The district includes a mix of commercial, residential and industrial activity. A few thousand years of movement of people and goods – influxes of migrant and refugee populations and waves of industrialisation – have shaped this place. At the height of the industrial period in the 19th century over half the country’s factory workers were employed in Piraeus, then described as the ‘Manchester of the East’, across 55 factories producing cotton, pasta, soap and ceramics.

Currently, each day, the city is both the start and end point of innumerable local, national and international journeys – both atypical and mundane.

Piraeus is at a critical point of change. A debate about its future is playing out on an international stage – governmental authorities have collaborated with COSCO Shipping to draw up development plans for the port district with a vision for upgraded car parks, eco-bus terminals and upmarket hotels. The implementation will be decisive in the city’s future. Piraeus, like Athens, like Greece, is and will be resilient, but there is an acute need to defend and preserve the neighbourhood’s existing character and histories.